Adventures, Culinary and Otherwise of a New Life In a Small Town

It’s Too Much and It’s Not Enough…

Have you ever loved someone too much, and not enough? Well that’s how I’m feeling about my farm share, it’s both too much and not enough. And so it goes when eating locallly and seasonally, little did I realize just how many carrots would be in my life.

I have nothing against carrots, they are a necessary part of my culinary arsenal, there are a million things I cannot make without carrots, unfortunately I don’t want to make any of them in the summer. I am considering building a root cellar contraption.

As far as not enough there may never be enough onions to satisfy me, tomatoes I will gorge on willingly for these short late summer months, I never tire of them, peppers pile them on, chard, well I’m starting to wane on that too. Eggplants… well I like eggplant 3 ways only and one of them I only sort of like it. I’m drowning in cucumbers and am surprised that I am not buried under a pile of zucchini, but I’m not.

Never enough tomatoes!

In this post I am sharing three of my favorite recipes that make the most out of summer vegetables, the eggplant parm is perfect for anyone who doesn’t like eggplant …it will change your world, also its a great Meatless Monday meal, freezes beautiful and makes a super decadent leftover sandwich.

Eggplant Parm from above

MY EGGPLANT PARM

Serves 6 (ish)

2 Medium eggplants ( about 3 pounds)

2 Zucchini or Summer Squash

1/4 Cup Kosher Salt

3 Cups Chopped Tomato (Fresh or Not)

4 Cloves Garlic

1/2 Cup Chopped Fennel

1/2 Cup Chopped Red or Yellow or Orange Pepper (NOT GREEN)

1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Rosemary

1/4 Cup Olive Oil

1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Panko

1 Tsp Red pepper Flakes

1 1/2 Cup Fresh Ricotta (drained)

3/4 a Pound Fresh Mozzerella, sliced thin or shredded

1/2 Cup Grated Parmigiano Reggiano

10 Fresh Basil leaves

Stuff you need 4 sheet pans, a casserole dish & some heavy stuff

Slice the eggplants & the squashes lengthwise in about 1/4 ” thick slices (you can peel them if the skin skeeves you)

Lay them out on a sheet pan covered with a clean kitchen towel

Sprinkle them heavily with salt

Cover with another clean towel, then another sheet pan, place some thing very heavy on top, like a bunch of cans or cookbooks

Let sit at least 1 hour

You don’t HAVE to do this, but it will be better if you do

Remove the heavy things take the eggplant & zucchini slices and dab off all the extra water..dry them well, wipe away any visible salt

Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of a clean sheet plan

Place Eggplant & Zucchini slices on the pan, drizzle on top with Olive Oil

A perfect summer lunch is a jar of caponata, some good bread, fresh goat cheese and a glass of Fiano D’Avellino. It makes a great condiment for roast lamb, or swordfish, also nice on pasta, in an omelet or on served cold on top of a warm goat cheese & potato pizza (that’s what I’m doing) or on a sandwich.

Oh just thought of a sandwich… warm Semolina spread soft goat cheese on one side and smear caponata on the other, drizzle on a good amount of good olive oil then add a split grilled lamb sausage top with a bit of arugula & shaved fennel tossed in lemon juice and olive oil…YUM! even without the sausage, but why would you want to not have sausage???

There are alotta caponata recipes out there, this one came right out of what is in my kitchen right now. I used what I had, you can add or take away several components. Celery really should be in there but I didn’t have any. Zucchini or summer squash would work as well. You can use dried figs,cranberries or the traditional raisins in place of dried cherries. Pine nuts are traditional, but I never have any, you don’t have to use saffron, olives are a good add in and it wouldn’t be terrible if you threw an anchovy or two in there in the beginning

This takes some time to cook, but once you do all the chopping you can pretty much leave it be while you write your blog post or something.

* Please toast the cinnamon, I mean you don’t have to but it makes such a HUGE difference, in fact I sometimes even burn it slightly to get an extra layer of flavor

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

16 Oz (2 Bars) Cream Cheese- Room Temperature

1 Stick Salted Butter- Room Temperature

1/2 Cup Maple Syrup

2 Tablespoons Burnt Cinnamon or Just Cinnamon

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

2-3 Tablespoons Milk

Beat Cream Cheese & Butter together about 6 minutes on High

Add Maple Syrup & Cinnamon

Add Powdered Sugar & Milk in alternating increments until you have the desired consistency— Sugar will make it Stiffer, Milk Softer

Transfer to Pastry Bag or Bowl

Wait till cupcakes are cool before frosting,but no one could blame you if you spread some frosting on a warm cupcake while you were waiting for the other cupcakes to cool and ate it standing in the kitchen before cleaning up.

Garnish with Candied Ginger & Candied Carrots if desired

Candied Carrots

1 Cup Shredded Carrots

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Strong Cooled Earl Grey Tea (or water)

Bring Tea & Sugar to a Boil

Add Carrots

Cook over Medium heat– Stirring occasionally but watching closely the whole time until all liquid has been evaporated

Cool on parchment or wax paper

SNAPSHOTS FROM THE WEEK:

Sexy nectarine….Ginormous Tomato from our garden…next to grapefruit for scale.Ugly TomatoPIE! Black Bottom Chocolate Stout Caramel Cream Pie with Cashew & Speculoos Crust. I made this just for my sister-in-law…for her birthday.

This is where we had breakfast last SundayWe went to Trattoria Athena for a Charlie Trotter Dinner on Sunday… this is Calamari stuffed with Braised Oxtail with Corzetti (??) squid ink pasta shaped in rounds & embossed. It was OK the Calamari could have been more tender and the Oxtail should have been hot not luke warm.Duck Livers with Honey Glazed Turnips & Wild Mushroom Vinaigrette… again almost great, the livers should have been cleaner and had a better sear, it was a bit muddy.Braised Short Rib, Horseradish Mash… a gremolata would have elevated this to spectacular.This was the best dish of the night Pork Belly Stuffed with Ground Pork & Chantrelles w Garlicky Salty Grilled ZucchiniLoverly and very nice…. the Square is Pressed Duck Confit, the Yellow is carrots , pureed carrots, there’s a tangle of Tatsoi & Grilled purple potatoes that should have been better more vibrant or not there, Sticky ribs with coriander honey…could have been meatier, they were kind of tough…but pretty goodAnd of course a Cat Picture….My sweet boy Hank loves nothing more than terry cloth, except when there is a body, warm from the shower underneath…